Tag: hope

The Hunt For Advent

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks looking for Advent. Not the season, the four Sundays, and the weeks before Christmas (This year actually from December 1 to 24) celebrated in the orthodox churches or the older but less celebrated Celtic Advent, the 40 days before Christmas (which I am celebrating this year). What I have been looking for was an Advent Calendar.

The first I remember seeing was when I was a young teen, in 1965. It was a large, flat, cardboard picture of the Bethlehem Christmas scene with 28 little “windows” that you would open, one each day up until Christmas Day. There would be a Scripture reference in the window, and I would have to look it up to read it. They would be prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures and verses from the Christian Scriptures leading up to the birth of Jesus. It was a way of telling the story slowly, so I remembered it better as time passed. Each day my mother would ask me (and sometimes my younger sister Paula) to tell the story so far, and we would, as best as we could remember. Then we would open the next window and learn the next part. By the time we got to Christmas, we knew the story and could tell it to anyone who wanted to hear us. As a bonus, it helped us to learn to read some harder words since many of the Biblical words were not usual ones for us.

The next one I remember had an additional treat. Each window opened to a section of a larger picture on the backing piece of cardboard. So we learned the verses and began to see the picture, one piece at a time.

It wasn’t too many years later that I began to see Advent calendars where the window was more of a door, opening to a little box that had something in it in addition to the Scripture. Most often it was a piece of candy. Occasionally it would have a tiny toy. It wasn’t long before kids were looking for the candy and toys and skipping the Scripture.

This year I decided to give the children in my churches Advent Calendars. I wanted the kind that would tell the story of the birth of Jesus. Maybe help them learn the story.

I could not find any! I did find all kinds of “Advent” calendars. I found some that had candy and verses from A Visit from St. Nicholas (The Night Before Christmas). I found them with Sponge Bob and Patrick. There were some with various kinds of chocolate and instead of a verse, there was description of the chocolate (and where you could order more). There were at least four different Taylor Swift ones, with a trinket from her various world tours in each window. My favorite spice store in Minnesota had one with sample packs of various spices and recipes for each day. (I was tempted to get that one for me!) Another had chocolates filled with various kinds of liqueurs. Then there was one that skipped the chocolate and had 25 mini bottles of various liquors, with a goblet style glass safely ensconced in the middle. And there was the literary one where you unwrapped a book each day (another one I was tempted to buy for me).

But not one with the Christmas story.

I went online to Hobby Lobby, that bastion of conservative Christian capitalism, knowing that they would have one. Nope. At least, not online. Disney and others, sure. Jesus? Nope. But I took a chance and went to their store. Sure enough, they had some. Only one style, same picture on the outside, small chocolates in the windows. But the Scriptures are there. And the price was good. So, I bought enough for my kids and headed out.

I’ve been thinking about this. Christmas used to be about the birth of Jesus. Jesus is just sort of a side story, now. Same with Easter. Even secular holidays have gone the way of consumerism. Memorial Day used to be a day of remembering people who died in the various and never-ending wars we have. Now, it’s a great time to go shopping. By new mattresses and sofas. Veteran’s Day- great time to buy a new car, and veterans get an additional discount. Independence Day? Celebrate your freedom to buy new grills and deck furniture. Now, Advent seems to be gone for the most part. I guess we still have Lent. But watch out! As long as you’re practicing self-discipline, it would be a great time to join a gym and work on that beach body!

Meanwhile, I’ll look out my real window each morning during this Celtic Advent season, and hope to see signs of Jesus in this world today.

Longest Night 2023

(Note: I am writing this on December 21, 2023.)

I love the neighborhood I live in, and especially my street. If you are ever in Florence this time of the year (December) take a ride through Forest Hills and especially down Iris Drive. Our street is decorated with every house having a small tree with the old-fashioned C-9 bulbs, and a plywood snowman with the family name on it in every yard. Some have a few other lights hanging from trees, and you can see our Christmas tree through the front bay window of our living room. None of the houses are in the running for the Griswold Award nor would we be on any of the tv shows with homes competing for the best lights. But every home contributes to the atmosphere of the season.

I like the street for other reasons, too. We have a mixture of families. Several years ago we had few families with children on the street. Now we have a lot, so many that we watch out for them all up and down the block. We have a few older retired families (like ours), and middle-aged families doing their best to get by. The yards are kept nice, and the neighbors know each other. At least on a first name basis. And while we care about and for each other, no one is intrusive. We just watch out for each other.

Which brings me to tonight. It is the winter solstice, the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere. Where I live the sun will set at 5:13 p.m. and rise tomorrow at 7:21 a.m. Which means that we will have 14 hours 8 minutes of darkness and 9 hours 52 minutes of light. For some people, that is a long night.

It has been a hard year for a lot of us. Like many of you, I have lost some dear friends this year. A few to death, a few who moved far away, and a few in relationships that have died. I find on the long night I miss them all.

For some it has been a hard year financially. Though that is not true for Cathy and me, we have some close friends who are really struggling. We do what we can to help them through this tough time, remembering when family and friends helped my mother, my sister, and me in our dark nights.

For some of us, me included, it has been a hard year healthwise. Though my cancer treatment seems to have slowed the growth of my cancer, the treatment itself saps me of energy. And while I can get around okay most days, I often find myself exhausted from normal activities. Not quite what I thought when I retired and planned to walk across the state. Still, I am here.

And many of us are worried about the state of our nation. Living in a democracy is hard, and it appears that many people are ready to turn to a dictatorship. Seeing the possible end of this great experiment in a new way of living is wearing on us all.

And there are those who are fighting things spiritually and emotionally. Loss of faith, loss of hope, loss of vision for our future causes great depression. Suicide rates in the US are the highest since 1941, and suicide is now the number one killer of teens.

All this is on my mind when I wake up at 2 a.m. to go to the bathroom. (All you older guys know what I am talking about.) Before going back to sleep, I go sit in our living room and look out past the Christmas tree and see the lights from all the trees on the street. They somehow seem brighter in the late-night darkness. And I think of the lights in the world around me. Friends who have stuck close and continue to get closer. Those who are following Christ in the United Methodist Church and are open to people with different opinions. The fact that I have all the things I need, most of the things I want, and am able to help others in this time. My doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and therapists who not only treat me like a patient, but more like a friend. Having Cathy to help me through all these days, and sticking by me in long days and long nights. And the people who are working, striving, praying, voting to keep our country united. And those who are there for the ones who are struggling deep down, who have listening ears and open arms for the neediest around us.

And I remember, as I continue to look at the lights down the street, that as we focus on the fact that all of us live together on this little blue ball, we can make through. We just need a reminder of the light that lives within each of us. And eyes to see it in the darkest of times.

So, my friends, on this dark night, may you see the lights around you, and find the light within you.